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Lucidity Association Chair, Harry Hunt, Interviewed
No full textHarry Hunt is a professor of psychology at Brock University, chair of the Lucidity Association, and member of the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Dreams. The Multiplicity of Dreams, his book recently published by Yale University Press, has been hailed as “original and thought provoking, ...makes an important contribution to the field.” Hunt, along with his colleague Robert Ogilvie were among the first sleep researchers to seriously investigate lucid dreaming in the sleep laboratory
Letter from the Guest Editor
No full textKathryn Belicki, Guest Editor, provides an introduction to the articles featured in this issue
Mapping Territories: A Phenomenology of Lucid Dream Reality
No full textRecently, I\u27ve found myself both delighted and disappointed as dreamworkers have increasingly applied the term "phenomenological" in describing their research in lucid dreaming. Delighted, because I haven\u27t found a more useful approach to dream research than that involved in phenomenological methodology; and disappointed because few dreamworkers seem to have any clear idea about what a formal phenomenological approach actually involves! In this paper I hope to make clear the essence of such a phenomenological approach, and to clarify its application by presenting some of my own findings in the role of a lucid dream phenomenologist
Problems in the Historical Research of Lucid Dreaming
No full textThe historical dimension to lucid dreaming (and dream research in general) is one that has been sadly neglected. Recent writings have not given an adequate account of the development of lucid dreaming, even limiting such an account to within the historical context of this century alone. As an opening to what is hoped will be a fruitful area of debate, there are some issues which need to be raised and discussed further. The four points that I want to cover in this article concern: the limited explanatory power of describing the history of lucid dreaming purely in terms of "events"; the validity of using the term "lucid dreaming" in a retrospective manner; the problems associated with evaluating any text that has undergone translation; and the potential problems associated with the changing meaning of certain "key words" within the lucid framework which need to be highlighted
J. Gackenbach and S. Laberge (Eds.), “Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. Perspectives on Lucid Dreaming. New York, London: Plenum Press, 1988.
No full textThis work, edited by Jayne Gackenbach and Stephen LaBerge, fills a gap that has long been painfully felt by many dream researchers: Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. Perspectives on Lucid Dreaming, a compendium of lucid dream research, has finally made its appearance after 5 years in the making. It provides a comprehensive survey of the present-day state of affairs in this branch of research that has seen such a rapid expansion in the last few years
Dream Recall and Content as a Function of Defensiveness
No full textFreud\u27s theories about repression and defense grew to maturity alongside those about dreams. In The Interpretation of Dreams, he wrote, "The forgetting of dreams depends far more upon resistance than upon the fact, stressed by the authorities, that the waking and sleeping states are alien to each other" (p. 559). Repression as a prime cause of the forgetting of dream content continues to be an evident fact in the eyes of psychodynamic clinicians but the repression hypothesis of dream forgetting has not been regarded as having much merit by researchers. Singer and Schonbar and Domhoff and Gerson did find a mild relationship between dream forgetting and the Welsh R. Scale, the latter measuring repression. However, Wallach and Bone, Nelson, and McAllister failed to find any significant relationship between dream recall and the "reversal" scale of the Defense Measuring Instrument (DMI). This scale is designed to measure repression and denial, and thus this finding is opposite those predicted by Freud\u27s repression theory. In a major recent review of the causes of dream forgetting Cohen concludes the repression hypothesis should be discarded
Cognitive Dimensions of Dream Formation in Repetitive Nightmares of Refugees
No full textRefugees from the Soviet-controlled area of Central Europe often report repetitive nightmares in which they find themselves in their native country, wish to escape again, attempt to or plan to escape, and experience various dysphoric emotions, mainly fear of not being able to re-escape (Pinter, 1969; Zimmermann, 1958). Cernovsky’s (1986) interviews with 100 Czechoslovakian refugees in Switzerland indicated that (1) about 56% report the above nightmares, and (2) the nightmares cannot be labeled as post-traumatic because they do not closely resemble the manner in which the refugees actually left their native country.
Thus we find dramatic nightmare scenes of attempting to cross the border crawling over minefields or hiding under a railroad car, etc., whereas most persons interviewed by Cernovsky (1986) escaped in a more peaceful manner. They were able to obtain valid passports with a police permit for travel abroad in the short-lived period of relative freedom in 1967-1969, traveled out during that time as “tourists”, and have never returned. How such dreams might occur and their relation to more typical nightmares is what we wish to address here
Reflections on Gackenbach\u27s Conception of Pure Consciousness as Related to OBE\u27s and NDE\u27s
No full textI recently finished Gackenbach\u27s article in 06/89 issue of Lucidity Letter(re: your linkings of OBE\u27s/NDE\u27s/UFO abductions/lucidity) and am now excitedly playing with viewing various of my own experiences through her proposed framework. I had my first OBE (that I remember) when I was 10. My grandmother (who lived with us and to whom I was very close) was dying (cancer) in our home."Something" drew me to her and I crawled up onto her as she died. She began chanting in Cherokee (I\u27m 1/2 Indian) and I had the sensation of both our bodies slowly floating up to the ceiling. At this point, she "spoke to" me ("passing on a legacy"), then drew her hands away from me at which point I found myself "back in my body", lying on her corpse in the bed. I didn\u27t feel as if I were asleep/dreaming, as I was so acutely attending to what was happening to my grandmother
Alpha Activity During Lucid Dreaming
No full textWe have been interested in the electrophysiological correlates of lucid dreaming (LD) since early work in this laboratory suggested a relationship between lucidity and alpha activity (Ogilvie, Hunt, Sawicki &McGowan, 1978; Ogilvie, Hunt, Tyson, Lucescu & Jeakins, 1982; Tyson, Ogilvie, & Hunt, 1984). Until now, this alpha-lucidity hypothesis had not been tested in our lab on high frequency lucid dreamers who signal while in REM sleep, and LaBerge (1980; 1981) has not observed any changes in alpha in signalled episodes of lucidity. The present report describes computer analyses of EEG activity obtained during eight laboratory nights from a frequent lucid dreamer. In addition to standard polysomnographic measures, CCTV monitoring with two cameras and a screen splitter permitted simultaneous display and videotaping of the subject\u27s (RJS\u27s) face and concurrent polygraphic activity. This was particularly useful during REM, since RJS had trained himself to sleep on his back and to try to signal from that position. In the month prior to the lab nights, RJS spend over an hour per day meditating. He also used LaBerge\u27s lucidity induction or cognitive self-instruction techniques and reported LD rates in excess of one per night. He practiced signalling (using three blinks/ rapid vertical eye movements) and thought he had successfully signalled several LDs while at home
Psychedelics and Lucid Dreaming: Doorways in the Mind
No full textPsychedelics and lucid dreaming are doorways in the mind. Each can lead us to larger realities -often answering a deep need to explore the fundamental question: "What is reality?"Each shows us that reality is bigger, more complex, more varied and stranger than normal consciousness can fathom. With psychedelics and ordinary dreams we often jump into uncharted realms. How can we become adept at exploring these realms, and how can we travel further